Advanced BioFuels USA

(Agri-Pulse)  Research aimed at finding the right combination of fuels and engine technology that would maximize a car’s performance while reducing its greenhouse gas emissions has reached a milestone that ethanol advocates hope gets wider acknowledgement from policy makers.

The Co-Optimization of Fuels & Engines (Co-Optima) initiative is a first-of-its-kind collaborative research and development effort undertaken over the past year by the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), its nine national laboratories and industry stakeholders – including national agriculture groups.

The initiative combines previously independent research of biofuels on the one hand and engine combustion technology on the other. By merging the enquiries, scientists are looking to ultimately design new fuels and engines that are co-optimized – designed in tandem to both maximize vehicle performance and reduce environmental impacts.

Last month, Co-Optima researchers completed a year-long assessment of an initial 470 blendstock compounds, and announced eight blendstocks that researchers believe are representative of those with “optimal” fuel properties that can maximize engine performance.

And while DOE declines to see one blendstock more favorably than any of the other seven, the data clearly show ethanol, which is an inherently high-octane fuel, contains many of the benefits researchers are looking for, including commercial and economic viability.

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… (E)thanol is the candidate fuel additive that checks virtually all 23 “feedstock viability” criteria boxes as either “favorable” or “neutral.” Ethanol earned “favorable” marks for a diverse range of attributes, ranging from feedstock quality, to cost, to lifecycle greenhouse gases, to political and geographic factors. The remaining seven candidate blendstocks scored far fewer favorable criteria ratings, or recorded a significant number of “unfavorable” ratings.

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But the identification of fuels designed to work in high-efficiency, low-emission engines, is just one of three integrated areas undertaken by the initiative. Another is the research in engine design that facilitates running more efficiently on affordable, scalable and sustainable fuels. DOE officials cite laboratory engine test results that indicate fuel economy improvements of more than 50 percent are possible for passenger vehicles.

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Ethanol groups and others were disappointed the draft TAR did not address and consider fuel quality and octane pathways for meeting the very aggressive GHG and fuel efficiency targets. Citing extensive findings over the past two years from DOE’s national laboratories that show major engine-efficiency and emission-reduction benefits can be derived from high-octane, low-carbon (HOLC) fuels, specifically blends of ethanol in the 25-30 percent range, supporters say another shot at the fuel economy standards will allow for greater attention to the Co-Optima findings supporting ethanol.

And while a recent spate of announcements from automakers has driven renewed attention to the electrification of cars and light trucks, Modlin (Reg Modlin, the former director of regulatory affairs at FCA Fiat Chrysler Automobiles) says until such time as electric vehicles dominate the market – and for decades after – liquid fuel will be used in transportation throughout the world.  READ MORE